Blog
News, insights, and product updates from the Leaf Automation team.
New
A guided curriculum for solar engineers automating AutoCAD with Python or C#. Foundation posts, three tracks, ordered by prerequisites.
We pulled 16 months of our own Google Search Console data: 45,912 impressions, 534 clicks, and a click-through cliff at position three. What a niche B2B software site actually learns from its search data.
Solar drafting automation has a split buyer: the engineer who redraws strings every day, and a decision-maker who hasn't opened AutoCAD in years. How each side gets the other to yes.
Our homepage says 25 hours of drafting in 3 minutes. Any vendor can type that sentence. Here's the evidence standard we think a claim like that owes a solar engineer, and how ours is backed.
Automating solar drafting doesn't end your constraint problem. It moves the constraint somewhere more interesting. What EPC engineering teams should expect to break next, and why that's good news.
AutoCAD 2024 quietly broke selection set calls that worked since 2003. Here's what changed, why (command) is 66x slower than entmake, and the migration path solar engineers actually need.
A working guide for solar engineers who want to build their own AutoCAD plugin in C# — the setup that compiles, the Transaction trap, the selection-set wall, and where Claude actually helps versus where it hallucinates LISP from 2005.
Why k-means is the wrong tool for grouping solar homeruns in AutoCAD the moment your roof has obstructions, plus the upgrade path that actually handles capacity constraints.
A working Python solver for solar stringing in AutoCAD — what it does, what it misses, and why production tools stack four algorithms instead of one.
How to extract panel positions, string assignments, and inverter mappings from a SolarEdge Designer report PDF for AutoCAD import using Python — and the four pitfalls that will bite you.
Run a Python solar script outside VS Code, package it for a coworker without Python installed, and schedule overnight runs. Three deployment paths.
Install pdfplumber, open a SolarEdge Designer PDF, extract text and tables for AutoCAD import. A friendly intro before the production pitfalls.
How LISP defun, setq, and lists map to C# methods, variables, and collections — translated for AutoCAD solar engineers who need to read modern .NET plugin code.
How Python's def, class, and @dataclass map to AutoLISP defun and list-based data — translated for solar engineers who think in LISP and need to read modern Python code for AutoCAD work.
A no-math explanation of how k-means clusters solar panels into groups for AutoCAD homerun routing — and why it produces wrong answers on real rooftops with obstructions.
A plain-English look at what auto-stringers do under the hood — why solar stringing is computationally hard, and how production tools solve it.
AutoCAD engineers new to C#: install Visual Studio, set up a plugin project, load a Hello World command via NETLOAD. Every install gotcha pre-warned.
Solar engineers new to Python: install, set up VS Code, run a script reading panel coordinates from an AutoCAD CSV export. Every install gotcha pre-warned.
Solar EPCs scale revenue by winning more projects. But every project still requires the same manual drafting hours. Here's why hiring doesn't fix it and what does.
Non-residential solar projects have differences non-engineers underestimate. That's why AutoCAD persists — and why templates don't work.
The handoff from proposal tools to construction documents is where solar engineering teams lose hours on every project. Here's what actually transfers — and what gets rebuilt from scratch.
When redrafting takes hours, engineers stop iterating. The cost of manual drafting isn't just time — it's engineering quality.
Comparing the top AutoCAD solar plugins for commercial rooftop and ground mount drafting — Branch, PVComplete/Enact, Virto.CAD, PV Rocket, and PVcase. Features, pricing, and which fits your workflow.
Solar drafting automation handles the repetitive CAD work in construction document production — stringing, homerun routing, cable lengths. Here's what it is, why it matters, and how it differs from solar design software.
Solar engineers aren't rejecting automation because they're stubborn. They're rejecting tools that own their workflow and break the moment a project doesn't fit the mold.
Software that blurs the line between drafting and engineering puts projects at risk. Here's why we built a tool that deliberately stops short of engineering — and why that restraint matters.
A technical look at the algorithms behind automated solar stringing — reinforcement learning, spatial reasoning, and where automation still needs an engineer.
Branch, PVComplete/Enact, PV Rocket, Virto.CAD, and PVcase Roof Mount — actual pricing, real learning curves, and which fits your workflow.
A practical guide to automating repetitive drafting in solar construction documents — what automation means, what it doesn't, and a workflow using Leaf.
PVComplete has been acquired and merged into Enact Solar. What this means for PVCAD users and what alternatives exist for AutoCAD solar stringing.
SolarEdge Designer builds proposals. AutoCAD builds construction documents. Here's the fastest way to get from one to the other without redrawing.
Solar design software covers five tool categories — Aurora, Helioscope, PVcase, AutoCAD plugins, and more. Which fits your workflow?
Custom AutoLISP scripts got you this far. Here's how to tell when they cost more than they save — and what a plugin handles differently.
Leaf chosen to participate in the 2025 BV IgniteX accelerator, focusing on innovative project execution solutions for the infrastructure industry.
Leaf CEO Evan Haug selected as a speaker at Chicago AI Week 2025, part of the AI 2030 Summit Series.
SolarEdge Designer exports lines. Leaf creates intelligent CAD objects. Here's why that difference matters for construction documents.
BRITE Energy Innovators profiles Leaf's drafting automation work and our path through the BRITE accelerator.
Leaf recognized as a Phase 1 winner of the Lab MATCH prize from the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Technology Transitions.
Leaf selected for Cohort 3 of Transform, the data science and AI startup accelerator at UChicago's Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship.
Leaf selected for the inaugural cohort of JumpStart's Trailblazer Software Accelerator, receiving up to $125K in support services.
Leaf Automation launches with Branch — an AutoCAD plugin for solar stringing, homerun routing, and circuit length export.
Leaf showcases drafting automation for AutoCAD at CES 2024 in Las Vegas, demonstrating the Branch plugin alongside CWRU innovators.
Leaf recognized as a Finalist for Most Promising Startup in the Best of Tech awards from the Greater Cleveland Partnership.
As ThinkEnergy fellows at the Great Lakes Energy Institute, Leaf's founders learned from experts about trends and opportunities in the energy industry.
Evan Haug, CEO and Co-Founder of Leaf, sits down with BRITE Energy Innovators to discuss energy innovation and the future of engineering automation.
The U.S. Department of Energy Solar Energy Technologies Office selects Leaf as one of 10 teams to advance in the American-Made Solar Prize competition.
Leaf's solar stringing automation plugin becomes available for beta trials on the AutoDesk AppStore.
Leaf CEO Evan Haug discusses the company's mission to automate solar drafting in a feature profile by the University of Akron Research Foundation.
Leaf receives American-Made Solar Prize funding to build AutoCAD drafting automation for solar stringing, homerun routing, and circuit length export.
Leaf receives a $10,000 SAFE investment from the Northeast Ohio Student Venture Fund to accelerate development of its AutoCAD solar automation plugin.
BOUNCE highlights Leaf's mission to make electrical engineers' lives easier through construction automation.
Leaf wins $7,500 first place prize at the 2021-22 Morgenthaler-Pavey Startup Competition at Case Western Reserve's Veale Institute for Entrepreneurship.
Team Leaf wins the $4,000 first prize at the spring 2021 ideaLabs pitch competition hosted by the Entrepreneurship Education Consortium.
CWRU's Great Lakes Energy Institute profiles Evan Haug and the Leaf Automation team as part of the 2020-2021 ThinkEnergy Fellowship cohort.